Improvement in apparatus for making gas from wood



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST SCHMIDT, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO IIIMSELF AND CHARLES EDWARD SCHMIDT, AND HERMANN SCHMIDT, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR MAKING GAS FROM WOOD.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 25,609, dated September 27, 1859.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, AUGUST SCHMIDT, of the city and State of New York, have invented and made a certain new and useful Improvement in Retorts for Illuminating-Gas from Vood, Turf, or Vegetable Material; and I do hereby declare that the following is a -I'ull, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure lis a plan of my apparatus with part of the retort in section. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 is an end sectional view with the cap-plates of the retorts removed.

Similar letters designate the same parts.

Retorts for manufacturing \voodgas have heretofore been made, and in somenstances the gas passed off from the retort has been subjected to a second heating operation, whereby the gaseous matters are more properly and completely combined. My said invention therefore does not consist in this reheating operation, but in' the construction of a retort which I use for this purpose, whereby a larger surface is exposed to the heat, and that under circumstances which render the heat far more effective in accomplishing` the desired result.

In the drawings, a is a retort formed of a double-arched or semi-cylindrical shape by the bottom arched plate a', formed with or attached to the top arched plate a2. This retort is set in brick-work of any suitable character over a furnace b. One end of this retort is closed, as at c, and the other end provided with a curved cap or cover plate d, kept on by a cross-bar and clam pin g-screws d', as usual.

e is the exit or fine for the escape-gases of Vthe furnace.

fis a pipe leading from the end c of the refurnace within the arch formed by the plate a of the retort. The end boxes of these heating-fines are iitted with cap-plates 1 l, so that the fines can be cleaned out when necessary. Said boxes are also provided with divisions, as shown in dotted lines, Figs. l, and 3, S0 that the gas generated in the retort a circulates back and forth through the iiues g g g2 g3 g4, and is finally led away to be purified by the pipe 7L. The lines g g g2 g3 g4, being high and narrow, expose a large extent of heating-surface to the gas and at the same time do not prevent the free access of the heat to the retort a, and the peculiar form of this arched retort c causes the heat to be applied on both sides of the wood or similar material that lies in two sections on the lower parts of the retort, and these parts not being directly over the lire are only exposed to that heat necessary for driving off the gaseous matters, while the charcoal formed in the process is not destroyed, but can be drawn out when the retort is open by means of a scraper z', fitted to the retort, and said charcoal can be received into a vessel to be shut up air-tight or be thrown into water.

In cases where this apparatus is used on a small scale-in hotels and similar places-the top plate 7a may be li tted for culinary purposes, or receive a pan for the evapora-tion of pyroligneous acid formed in the retorts.

Having thus described my said invention, I do not claim the reheating of gas from wood or vegetable ber; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the arch-shaped retort a and narrow lues g g', tf-c., within the arch of the retort, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as specified.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 15th day of August, 1859.

AUGUST SCHMIDT. lVitnesses:

LEMUEL W. SERRELL, Trios. GEO. HAROLD. 

